Fourth Sunday of Easter 4/21/2024

St. John the Evangelist Catholic Community • April 19, 2024

Dear Friends,
On the Fourth Sunday of Easter, our Gospel reading (John 10:11-18) opens with these amazing and remarkable words:
"I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. . . . I know mine and mine know me, just as
the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep.” This is why the Fourth Sunday of
Easter is observed as the Good Shepherd Sunday and also as the annual World Day of Prayer for Vocations.
This is the week to pray for your shepherds and all who have answered the call to shepherd the people entrusted to
them. We can use the prayer proposed by St. John Paul II:
We pray . . . for all consecrated persons. Fill their hearts with the deep certainty of having been chosen to
love, to praise, and to serve. Enable them to savor your friendship, fill them with your joy and consolation,
help them to overcome moments of difficulty, and rise again with trust after they have fallen; make
them mirrors of the divine beauty. Give them the courage to face the challenges of our time and the grace
to bring to all mankind the goodness and loving kindness of our Savior Jesus Christ
We are indeed grateful to God for our deacons and priests and especially for Tom Buddington, who will be ordained a
Permanent Deacon on 8 June 2024 at the Basilica of Mary Queen of the Universe. Please keep Tom, his wife Valerie,
and his son and daughter in your prayers.
On Easter Saturday, the Congregation of Holy Cross in the USA was blessed by the ordination of eight men to the
priesthood . . . and what a blessing this is! No doubt, this is a year of exceptional plenty. But even with this great gift,
we cannot respond adequately to the needs of our many apostolates. Please keep encouraging our own sons to
commit themselves to embracing the call to serve in the priesthood.
We truly need many men and women to answer God’s call to become Deacons, Priests, Brothers, and Sisters. I
fervently pray that many of our own here at St. John’s will hear God’s call, listen, and give their Fiat, their “yes.”
You might ask, how does a person know he or she has a call, or in our church parlance, a vocation? How can a person
discern a vocation?
Here are a few tips from the Holy Cross Office of Vocations:
• Prepare your heart. Begin not by asking God but by knowing God. Attend regular Mass and Confession, reflect on
Scripture, pray and offer service.
• Ask the question. Ask for the desire to receive the answer so that when it comes you might embrace it.
• Listen for God’s call. Waiting for an answer takes patience, but God makes his will known to those who seek it
with sincere hearts.
• Address fears and questions. It is in answering God’s call that we find our greatest joy.
All of these of course begin with prayer and taking time to cultivate a desire to serve the Lord.
My deep appreciation goes to Steve and Debbie Hogan, who received the Family of the Month Award for April.
Continue to shine your light among us so that we might see the Light of Christ through you. Thank you for all you do for
us, Steve and Debbie. Congratulations!
On Monday, 22 April 2024, we will celebrate the First Anniversary of the Dedication of our beautiful Grotto. In honor of
this great blessing, we will celebrate the Eucharist at the Grotto at 6 p.m. followed by praying the Rosary.
Have a Blessed Week!
With love,
Fr. John
2

< Older Post Newer Post >

First Sunday of Lent, March 9, 2025

March 9, 2025

Dear friends, The holy season of Lent has begun with a glorious Ash Wednesday. It was heartwarming to see our children at the 7 a.m. Mass that day. They wore the cross-shaped ashes on their foreheads to school, proud to show their faith and be silent evangelizers. We are very proud of them! Now that it is Lent, we will offer Stations of the Cross at the Grotto each day of the week except Sunday, including the traditional Stations on Fridays. I urge you to look at the bulletin for all the details about special Masses and other spiritual activities that have been created to support you on your lenten journey. I ask that you take the Lenten Schedule on page 8 and post it where you will remember to look at it. In particular, note the information about the Lenten Mission on March 16-18, the special programing for the Tuesdays of Lent, and the many spiritual activities on Fridays. We can approach Lent as the opportunity to do a spiritual “spring cleaning.” As one good priest reminded me: “Lent is a time to re-read the ‘owner’s manual,’ to tune our ‘engines,’ and to refurbish our ‘vehicles’ – not only for the journey of 40 days but also for the journey of life, the right life–and the right eternity.” God has given us an inexhaustible capacity for the transformation needed for becoming holy. Lent is also that special time of year when we walk with our catechumens and candidates as they prepare to become full members of the Catholic faith during the Easter Vigil. We are called to support them through our prayers and examples of faith. Remember to pray for their sponsors and their families as well. During the Vigil Mass on 8 March, the St. John’s family will join with our catechumens in celebration of the ritual called the Rite of Sending. In this rite, they will be recognized for the progress they have made in their spiritual formation. Then we will send them on to the Rite of Election which will be celebrated by Bishop Noonan the next day, 9 March, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe. We are very proud of the perseverance and dedication of our sisters and brothers . In this Jubilee Year 2025 themed, “Pilgrims of Hope,” it is good to reflect on the words of St. Teresa of Avila about hope and what it accomplishes: “Hope, O my soul, hope. You know neither the day nor the hour. Watch carefully, for everything passes quickly, even though your impatience makes doubtful what is certain, and turns a very short time into a long one. Dream that the more you struggle, the more you prove the love that you bear your God, and the more you will rejoice one day with your Beloved, in a happiness and rapture that can never end.” On the First Sunday of Lent, we always revisit the scene of the temptation of Jesus in the desert where he spent 40 days fasting and praying. We also recall our ancestors in faith, the ancient Israelites, who for 40 years trudged their way through the desert to the promised land. Jesus, through his patient acceptance of suffering and his rejection of the allurements of the devil, models the correct response in times of adversity and testing. This is in contrast with the ancient Israelites who murmured and complained bitterly about their ordeal. Jesus never swerved from being obedient to his Father; he completely and utterly depended on Him. Let us, too, place complete confidence in the Father during our times of trial, of which there will be many. Our Holy Father, Pope Francis, continues to need our prayers. Let us continue to pray for his healing: “O God, shepherd and ruler of all the faithful, look favorably on your servant Francis, whom you have set at the head of your Church as her shepherd; grant, we pray, that by word and example he may be of service to those over whom he presides so that, together with the flock entrusted to his care, he may come to everlasting life. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” I take this opportunity to announce that Beth Lowry has joined our parish staff as the new Business Manager. She held the position of bookkeeper in our office some years ago. Beth is well known to many at St. John’s. She and her devoted husband Steve have long been involved in many of our ministries. Beth brings a rich variety of work experience and abilities to her new position, and we wish her a positive and pleasant experience as she takes on this leadership role at St. John’s. Welcome, Beth! Have an inspiring and enriching LENT! With love, Fr. John